More federal transportation aid down the road?

Published 10:00 pm, Wednesday, November 8, 2006

With the Democrats' takeover of the Senate and the House, Seattle and the state overall are better positioned to get more federal money for transportation projects.

Whether they'll receive any is another question.

The Puget Sound region has billions of dollars worth of new projects needing money, including replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct and extending light rail north of downtown. The federal government already provided $500 million for the initial $2.4 billion light rail segment and committed more than $200 million toward replacing the viaduct with a six-lane tunnel.

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But local officials hope they can get more. After Tuesday's election, they could get help from Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. Both could gain power by becoming committee heads in their respective chambers.

But increased Democratic power among the state delegation does not ensure that money will follow, transportation watchers said Wednesday.

"The feds are no different than the state or the region, in that they've got scarce dollars and more projects than they can fund," said Ric Ilgenfritz, communications chief for Sound Transit, which is building the light rail.

Federal financing for Puget Sound area projects grew steadily in the past 12 years.

Transportation programs approved by the four-county Puget Sound Regional Council rose from $603.2 million in 1996 to more than $1 billion for the two-year budget cycle ending next year.

But needs have grown also.

State and regional officials want to rebuild or expand at least a dozen major Puget Sound area highways, including the viaduct, the Evergreen Point Bridge, Interstate 405 and other heavily used roads in Snohomish and Pierce counties. Seattle aims to raise more money for the viaduct; Sound Transit has asked the federal government for $750 million to help finance a $1.6 billion light rail extension to the University of Washington.

Rick Olson, a spokesman for the regional council, said the 18-cent-per-gallon federal gasoline tax that provides federal funding hasn't kept pace with inflation or rising project construction costs, and the Bush administration fought attempts to raise it. It was raised last in 1993.

The change in congressional control may free up some discretionary spending "but federal transportation funding is going to continue to be very, very tight and many amounts are controlled by formula and not by the legislators," said state Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald.

Marianne Bichsel, a spokeswoman for Mayor Greg Nickels, said Seattle wants to increase the federal amount allocated for the viaduct-replacement tunnel, estimated at $1.8 billion.

But Bichsel expects this to depend on which committees state Democrats end up running and on Republican support, too.

"It could be more but that's something we've got to work on in the next two or three years," Bichsel said.

Even if there's more federal money coming, some expect that funds for new projects will have to be raised locally.

Rejuvenated Democratic congressional power "certainly opens up some opportunities but we have a clear road map in front of us that we're going to follow up on -- putting together the regional plan that we've been working on for several years," Scholes said.